Mickey Z

Cool Observer

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

The Little Dragon gives us a little idea

Posted by Mickey Z on 08/10 at 04:20 AM

sound��am sure loads of others do it too...the mainstream media is all-pervasive so fighting it is a full-time job. i always have a few excellent articles in my bag (tho i do get free xeroxing so it makes it easier for me) and i just leave things lying about. coffee shops, bars, buses, trains - everywhere. people do pick them up and read them and its amazing the effect that reading just one thing thats outside the normal debates can have on a person. especially if they don’t come across things like that normally.

i don’t think it works with chomsky and people like that. it needs to be something accessible.

Posted by michael on from scotland 08/10 at 08:39 AM

How about researching the events leading up to a person’s shift in thinking from someone who buys into the propaganda to someone who thinks for themselves. Perhaps interview as many independant thinkers as possible and look for similarities in the events that occured/books that were read/etc. that led them to begin thinking in new ways. Then put it all together in a book.

Posted by James on from Puerto Rico 08/10 at 08:59 AM

i like the idea but it might lead into all sorts of problems. one persons definition of propaganda might differ from the next. what one person terms as an independent thinker will definitely differ from the next.

Posted by michael on from scotland 08/10 at 09:10 AM

true...plus everyone comes to whatever one considers independent thinking differently...but I still think some interesting things could come from such a project.

Posted by James on from Puerto Rico 08/10 at 09:20 AM

Michael: I’m with you. For example, I often go to my local library and leave photocopied articles inside books by folks like O’Reilly or Limbaugh.

James: Good book idea...but it would need a sharper focus. People who have done 180s...not just politically (to keep it from being marginalized). I think examples like Howard Lyman (cattle rancher turned vegan activist) are inspiring. His book, “Mad Cowboy,” is powerful read.

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 08/10 at 09:22 AM

By the way, who loves those Bruce images?

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 08/10 at 09:23 AM

fortunately our libraries don’t really have books by Rush Limbaugh but we do have our own versions of these assholes. richard littlejohn is one. i have seen him on US networks occcasionally brought over to pretend to be intellectual [because he has english accent] but then basically back up the rabid, monosyllabic morons they have on in fancier language.

i recommend http://www.schnews.org.uk which is half international in focus and half local (its also more than 500 miles away from me so their local is not really local to me). i also leave david rovics CDs about too. does anyone know of him? i believ he is from your neck of the woods mickey. http://www.davidrovics.com - all of his music is downloadable for free (at his insistence).

organising free film showings is a good and easy way to get people involved too. if someone watches something like ‘outfoxed’ or ‘weapons of mass deception’ on their own the effect can be counter-productive...people think ‘oh god - what can i do against that’ whereas if they watch it in a group they get talking.

this is in essence what i think mickey is doing with this forum except over the net and not in person.

Posted by michael on from scotland 08/10 at 09:34 AM

definitely love the Bruce images…

On the book idea, focus has always been my problem. I need to start training in Wing Chun Gung Fu.

I did go to yoga for the first time in a long time two nights ago, though…

Posted by James on from Puerto Rico 08/10 at 10:02 AM

Mickey...any event, book, or something that sticks out in your mind as far as life changing?

Posted by James on from Puerto Rico 08/10 at 10:04 AM

same question to anyone else as well…

Posted by James on from Puerto Rico 08/10 at 10:05 AM

Before I truly became political, my anti-authority influences included Dylan’s lyrics, Bruce Lee’s challenging of traditional martial arts, and maverick artists like Marcel Duchamp, Jackson Pollock, and Sue Coe. Then I read Guy Debord’s “Society of the Spectacle” and a book called “Chronicles of Dissent” (a series of Chomsky interviews on a broad range of topics). Talk about an epiphany. Next came John Robbins’ vegan bible, “Diet for a New America,” and there was no turning back,

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 08/10 at 10:10 AM

My battle against authority began on my first day of kindergarten, when I found that the new restrictions on my amount of playtime (when compared to nursery school) were unacceptable...I left on my own during recess and walked back to my nursery school and spent the rest of the day having fun.

My final awakening occured when I read Zimm’s “People’s History” and then went on to anything I could find by Chomsky.

Posted by James on from Puerto Rico 08/10 at 10:21 AM

I was nerd in school--smartest kid in the class--until sixth grade when I grew my hair long and became a tough guy.

Yeah, Zinn was huge. Caldicott’s “Nuclear Madness,” Ward Churchill, Z Magazine, an older publication called “Lies of Our Times,” Alternative Radio, WBAI...the list goes on.

Anyone else wanna join me and James?

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 08/10 at 10:30 AM

i never really went in for the kung fu thang mickey, sorry (or the vegan bit for that matter).

they didn’t know what to do with me in school. i got really good marks but i was always in trouble so it confused them - and i liked that. it was a catholic school and i used to enjoy asking the chaplain ethical questions that i knew he would have to answer ethically but would struggle (what a precocious little shit i was!)

here is an example of me aged 14....

Me: god is supposed to be everywhere isn’t he? omnipotent...omnipresent.. that sort of thing?
Chaplain: Yes
Me: what the f*ck is he doing in porno cinemas then?

i think he gave a lame answer about saving souls..

another..

Me: David and Goliath...what a lot of shit that was.
Chaplain: why?
Me: well, he only won because he was clever enough to have a better weapon didn’t he? if one planeful of americans can bomb an entire japanese city back to the stone age with one bomb is that david and goliath too?

i must have been a nightmare

one of these questions i picked up from a book and asked the chaplain it to wind him up. i would be grateful if anyone could tell me what it was because i can’t remember.

Posted by michael on from scotland 08/10 at 10:39 AM

I got turned on to alternate politics by Jello Biafra’s spoken word albums, Jack Herer’s “Emperor Wears No ��1;, and anything by Robert Anton Wilson. This was around the early 90’s late 80’s mostly I was reading and pursuing alternate spirituality’s. Carlos Castenada, Scott Cunningham, Terrance Mckenna, Timothy Leary, Christopher S Hyatt, Israel Regardie and more of the same.

Funny, I’m kinda going through another reawakening and revaluation of things. Never can do it to often I guess. ;)

I came across this link http://www.breakfornews.com/TheCIAInternetFakes.htm And was like, “Hey… I go to a lot of those sites, what the hell kinda reality tunnel is this guy on?” So I’ve been listening to his audio page for the last fea days and damn if he doesn’t make a convincing argument. Now I’m not so sure what’s true counter culture and what’s not being manipulated directly or indirectly. Heh Aren’t we all?

Great Topic Mickey and That Mr Lee is one fine fellow, never seen such a steady foot.

Anyone got an idea for a 3D animated Meme that can wake people up?

Peace,

Posted by Luna_C on from me 2 u 08/10 at 10:53 AM

The instructor of an introduction-level (musci) conducting course I once took used “the three C’s” as his motto:

Confidence. Consistency. Clarity.

I think this combined with adaptability can help us make some breakthroughs. Also: knowing when and where to place our anger.

I think I’m like a lot of people in that I became political after 9/11. But it wasn’t the thing itself, but what I happened to be reading at the time which helped me turn:

A Language Older Than Words, by Derrick Jensen
The Rebel, by Albert Camus

Only after these reads did I look into people like Chomsky, Zinn, the ZNet crowd, etc etc. Anyway, if y’all haven’t already I highly recommend those two books.

Posted by Keir on from New York, momentarily 08/10 at 11:11 AM

Camus really got to me, too, Keir - The Myth of Sisyphus. Hemingway got to me, too - a short story called: A Clean, Well-Lighted Place.
Also Les Miserables and a couple of Dickens novels all paved the way… Also, Ali refusing to be drafted, and some pieces about the Black Panther Party had a big effect, as well. Then, like many here, Chomsky… Chomsky has awakened so very many, there ought to be Chomsky statues here and there and everywhere. He’d have to be seated, reading or writing, amid a mountain of books and papers.
I really, really like the idea of leaving little “ideas” and short pieces in various places.
I’ve tried some gatherings for movies & documentaries - they sure DO inspire interesting conversation. And, though this might sound “schmaltzy,” I’ve thought, over the last several years, about how powerful a simple smile and a “hello,” can be when I’m out and about. I’m not so naturally disposed to friendliness when out in the streets - I tend to revert to a more “defensive” posture. But a smile and a greeting can immediately change people’s faces, and I know my mood often alters rapidly when almost anyone does the same. It’s subversive, somehow, just to treat each other with respect & some kindness. Our savage culture emphasizes competition, isolation and aggression. A little smile & a Hello! can offer an opportunity to defeat that, “right now!” - in some tiny way, all through the day…
Thanks for this conversation, everyone - I’m headed out into the streets, right now. Be well!

Posted by joe on from Oregon 08/10 at 12:35 PM

Four things we can do to change the way we dress ourselves:

1. Stop shopping at The Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Niketown, and other high profile sweatshop boutiques.
2. Tell others why we don’t shop at such places.
3. Buy used clothes as often as possible.
4. Organize a clothing swap.

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 08/10 at 02:46 PM

Very interesting discussion! Been out of touch lately, but checking in - must say I love the Bruce! And from an earlier post, a great anti-war movie that influenced me way back was Michael Renne in Day the Earth Stood Still (Klatu Barada Nikto!)

For radicalizing influences, being brought up Baptist kinda turned me into questioning everything because their shit was sooo dubious… but being in the Vietnam War just pushed me right over the top, been mad as hell and anarchist to the core ever since. And it just gets worse. Ward Churchill most recently… one page from “on the Justice of Roosting Chickens” is enough to blow apart all the crap they feed us in school and media… or just count the military actions, obstructions, etc.... You and Ward in print may be enough to salvage us in the minds of future generations, should there actually be any, who look at us and wonder how we could be so insane.

Posted by John Eden on from Georgia 08/10 at 05:57 PM

Oh, and something we could do right now is support Cindy Sheehan out in Texas taking it to them in the face…

Posted by John Eden on from Georgia 08/10 at 05:59 PM

Welcome back, John. Very interesting anti-war movie choice. As for supporting Cindy Sheehan, how can we do that effectively?

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 08/10 at 06:02 PM

Short of going to Texas, it’s hard - MoveOn and some others are trying to boost the media impact, and I suppose that’s what I had in mind - spread the word and express support for her vigil, help people to see the validity of her argument, which is simply, don’t use the dead as an excuse to kill more people! Which seems to be the Bush’s latest pretext for continuing the Iraq occupation.

Posted by John Eden on from Georgia 08/10 at 06:07 PM

Cindy Sheehan says: “Before my son was killed, I used to think that one person could not make a difference. But one person that is surrounded and supported by millions of people can be heard.”

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 08/10 at 07:59 PM

Love the Bruce Lee pics, Mickey. I’d recommend anyone interested in self-liberation read some of his writings, especially the Tao of Jeet Kune Do. Much of what he wrote about there translates well into activism, and making yourself a whole person.

I have some scattered small ideas. I decided to try out the Tor open source, free web privacy system. It’s stable and I’d recommend it for people who need to communicate from areas where the government is openly predatory. The Privoxy part of the bundle can be a pain to tweak, but there’s a bookmarklet you can use to turn it one and off. I posted a comment here earlier while using Tor, but it seems to have been eaten. Probably took too long writing it up and the captcha word changed.

Posted by Harry on from 08/10 at 11:18 PM

for anti-war films has anyone seen ‘all quiet on the western front’? if u haven’t then make an effort.

i like the thing keirs teacher used to say.
i had a teacher that use to say three questions should be asked when anyone (particularly someone in authority) tells you something

1. who is it thats telling me this?
2. why are they telling me this?
3. what do they stand to gain by telling me this?

2&3 are very similar but not exactly the same. i find these questions work well. its like the lenin thing about if you want to know whats really going on in a situation you look for who stands to benefit most.

Posted by michael on from scotland 08/11 at 03:35 AM

For me, it went something like this:

- I was wearing a Rage Against Machine shirt at school one day and was confronted by another student demanding if I knew what they were actually about. He was mostly being a dick, but he was also right in the assumption I had no idea what their lyrics or message were all about. I just thought the shirt looked cool. So I started to do some research and found their POV increasingly compelling.

- Around the same time I had a passing interest in socialism/communism due to the specious way they cover it in high school history classes. IE “How does a system where everything is shared equally among all people sound? Pretty good? Well, it’s not. It’s impractical, makes people lazy, and completely defunct as a worldview. Topic over. Class dismissed!” Whenever someone teaches you something in a way that insists on no argument or discussion, you want to start arguing it, at least if you’re a thinking person.

- I also read a lot in high school and books like Once and Future King, Animal Farm, Les Miserables, Dickens, etc, with their pervasive message of anti-war humanism effected me profoundly.

- In college, I had a great World History 101 Professor from England who took pity on how terribly uneducated we Americans were, and instead of lecturing made us read important classics like Rousseau, Locke, Smith, Marx, Dostoevsky, 1984, etc and discuss them in class. That’s all we did and it was pretty eye opening.

- From there I followed up by reading William Blum’s CIA History and a lot of Chomsky. After that point, your eyes should be thoroughly opened to the hypocrisy that surrounds us, at least if they’re ever going to be.

I’m also probably leaving out the important fact I read a ton of comic books when I was younger. Most comics have a pretty static message that one should be selfless, desire justice for all, and be willing act outside what’s considered acceptable to do the right thing. Which is not a bad thing to read when a kid IMO, even if superheroes do wind up resolving these issues mostly by wearing colored underwear and punching people.

Posted by Strangefate on from MI 08/12 at 05:49 AM